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Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker
In 2004 the number of entrants -- and the winning pool -- at the World Series of Poker tripled, thanks in large part to Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who came out of nowhere to win the 2003 Series, and prove to newcomers and poker pros alike that anything is possible with a chip and a chair.
Moneymaker was a young accountant from Tennessee who loved to gamble but only took up cards after college. Three years later he was playing a $40 game of online Texas Hold 'Em and won a coveted seat at the 2003 World Series of Poker. Borrowing money to get to Las Vegas, he entered his first real-time tournament and spent the next four days battling for a top spot at the final table.
Filled with everything from his early gambling ventures to a play-by-play of his major hands at the World Series of Poker, Moneymaker is a gripping, fast-paced story for anyone who has ever dreamed of winning it big.
Moneymaker was a young accountant from Tennessee who loved to gamble but only took up cards after college. Three years later he was playing a $40 game of online Texas Hold 'Em and won a coveted seat at the 2003 World Series of Poker. Borrowing money to get to Las Vegas, he entered his first real-time tournament and spent the next four days battling for a top spot at the final table.
Filled with everything from his early gambling ventures to a play-by-play of his major hands at the World Series of Poker, Moneymaker is a gripping, fast-paced story for anyone who has ever dreamed of winning it big.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 13, 2014
Best $1.81 I've ever spent on a book. This is The American Dream come to life. An average Joe makes it to the final table of the WSOP and wins. This is a real life Rocky story, and if suddenly Disney wanted to start make movies about poker this would be where they would start.
I have a soft spot for this book because I remember it unfolding in the summer of 2003. I had just graduated from college and as any 20-something guy can attest we all started playing poker much more heavily after Moneymaker's run was being broadcast almost daily on some form of ESPN. The Moneymaker effect on the public was huge. So big in fact the number of people entering the WSOP has not dropped off since Chris Moneymaker made his famous run back in 2003 .
I enjoyed reading about Chris's early days of playing with his fraternity brothers, and how his main game was sports betting long before poker. It's also funny to think how much of an average guy he was attending school, while trying to balance work and home life while worrying about paying off credit card debt like so many typical Americans.
For me the best part of the book starts on page 209 right after he won the 2.5 Million Dollars in the final. What do you do with all that money, where do you go out to celebrate? His wild and crazy next few days are documented in about 5 pages that made the book for me. If you're already familiar with the story or seen the 2003 tournament on TV, skip here and don't read anything else.
I have a soft spot for this book because I remember it unfolding in the summer of 2003. I had just graduated from college and as any 20-something guy can attest we all started playing poker much more heavily after Moneymaker's run was being broadcast almost daily on some form of ESPN. The Moneymaker effect on the public was huge. So big in fact the number of people entering the WSOP has not dropped off since Chris Moneymaker made his famous run back in 2003 .
I enjoyed reading about Chris's early days of playing with his fraternity brothers, and how his main game was sports betting long before poker. It's also funny to think how much of an average guy he was attending school, while trying to balance work and home life while worrying about paying off credit card debt like so many typical Americans.
For me the best part of the book starts on page 209 right after he won the 2.5 Million Dollars in the final. What do you do with all that money, where do you go out to celebrate? His wild and crazy next few days are documented in about 5 pages that made the book for me. If you're already familiar with the story or seen the 2003 tournament on TV, skip here and don't read anything else.
August 19, 2019
A great read for poker fans, but a cautionary tale as well
There are a couple things to keep in mind right from the start in thinking about the phenomenon of Chris Moneymaker, amateur Internet player, who wins the World Championship of Poker in 2003. One, he really is an amateur, or at least was when he won the coveted bracelet; and two, there's a good bit of luck involved in winning any poker tournament. No player ever won one without being lucky a time or two, and usually more often than that. Moneymaker, as this book reveals, was a bit luckier than most.
Here's another thing to keep in mind. It would seem that a poker player who cut his eyeteeth on the Internet game would be at some kind of serious disadvantage to players used to playing live. I say this because on the Internet the only tells you can pick up (or give away) relate to how long it takes to bet, and, to be honest, these tells aren't very reliable since God only knows what the other player may be doing besides playing poker. Many players play more than one table at a time, and that can account for the gaps in response when it's their turn to act. So Chris Moneymaker, a kind of not too sophisticated young guy, an accountant from Tennessee with credit card debt and a wife and kid to support, would not seem the sort of guy who would suddenly discover an incredible ability to read players or to be unreadable himself.
But what Moneymaker proves, as he narrates this unlikely tale (filtered through skillful wordsmithing by professional writer Daniel Paisner), is that for one tournament, you may not need all the skills. Stamina in the five-day tournament, averaging over ten hours of play per day, can be an important factor, especially against the older players. And Moneymaker had stamina. But he really wasn't very good at reading the other players. Again and again he relates how he put the other guy on the wrong hand. But it usually didn't matter because (1) he either had the best hand going or (2) drew out.
What Moneymaker did prove beyond a shadow of a doubt was his ability to run a stone cold bluff through some very strong players with better hands. That's his gift, and to be honest it's a double-edge one in the poker world. Normally it is better to be thought of as conservative and close to the vest in your play. That way when you do go out on a limb, you're not as likely to be called. On the other hand, if you are known as a bluffer, you are going to get called down a lot.
Yet, being known as somebody who will splash chips with nothing, as Moneymaker demonstrated--if handled right--is good because then all you have to do is wait for your good hands and shove your chips into the pot. You will get played with. But it takes a real professional, a strongly balanced player to be just wild enough, to be just aggressive enough so that you manage to get called when you have the goods, and to make them fold when you don't. Some players refer to this as "changing gears." They have, through their previous play, established a "table image," and now is the time to take advantage of it. If you've been betting the ranch on a wing and prayer, now is the time to wait for pocket rockets. If you've been tossing everything but Big Slick and up into the muck, now is the time to take a flyer on unsuited connectors.
But Moneymaker apparently was not able to adjust to his new image and new life as a poker celebrity, as the reigning World Champion--and, as this story makes clear, he spent entirely too much time partying and basking in the glory, and not enough to taking care of business at home and on the felt tables.
In other words this is a cautionary tale as well as a great poker read. The little guy fells the giants, but falls victim to the corruption of the spoils himself. I feel somewhat sorry for Chris Moneymaker because in reading this book I know he still hasn't a clue--well, he has a clue, but he just hasn't developed the character yet to come to grips with the truth and deal with his sudden, largely fortuitous success. This book concentrates on the poker playing and only hints at what success has done to Moneymaker's personal life, the drinking, the living on the road, the career change, the failure of his marriage...
He's like the guy who won the lottery, not like the guy who reached the pinnacle of his profession after years of hard work. And it shows.
They say if the gods really want to destroy a man, they will give him his fondest wish. I think this is what happened to the man from Tennessee. Only time will tell if he can come back from the personal debacle and get his life together. I wish him well. His story did a lot for poker, and this is a good book in that he was honest enough to show himself as he really is. Now he needs to take a good, long study of the guy in the mirror.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
There are a couple things to keep in mind right from the start in thinking about the phenomenon of Chris Moneymaker, amateur Internet player, who wins the World Championship of Poker in 2003. One, he really is an amateur, or at least was when he won the coveted bracelet; and two, there's a good bit of luck involved in winning any poker tournament. No player ever won one without being lucky a time or two, and usually more often than that. Moneymaker, as this book reveals, was a bit luckier than most.
Here's another thing to keep in mind. It would seem that a poker player who cut his eyeteeth on the Internet game would be at some kind of serious disadvantage to players used to playing live. I say this because on the Internet the only tells you can pick up (or give away) relate to how long it takes to bet, and, to be honest, these tells aren't very reliable since God only knows what the other player may be doing besides playing poker. Many players play more than one table at a time, and that can account for the gaps in response when it's their turn to act. So Chris Moneymaker, a kind of not too sophisticated young guy, an accountant from Tennessee with credit card debt and a wife and kid to support, would not seem the sort of guy who would suddenly discover an incredible ability to read players or to be unreadable himself.
But what Moneymaker proves, as he narrates this unlikely tale (filtered through skillful wordsmithing by professional writer Daniel Paisner), is that for one tournament, you may not need all the skills. Stamina in the five-day tournament, averaging over ten hours of play per day, can be an important factor, especially against the older players. And Moneymaker had stamina. But he really wasn't very good at reading the other players. Again and again he relates how he put the other guy on the wrong hand. But it usually didn't matter because (1) he either had the best hand going or (2) drew out.
What Moneymaker did prove beyond a shadow of a doubt was his ability to run a stone cold bluff through some very strong players with better hands. That's his gift, and to be honest it's a double-edge one in the poker world. Normally it is better to be thought of as conservative and close to the vest in your play. That way when you do go out on a limb, you're not as likely to be called. On the other hand, if you are known as a bluffer, you are going to get called down a lot.
Yet, being known as somebody who will splash chips with nothing, as Moneymaker demonstrated--if handled right--is good because then all you have to do is wait for your good hands and shove your chips into the pot. You will get played with. But it takes a real professional, a strongly balanced player to be just wild enough, to be just aggressive enough so that you manage to get called when you have the goods, and to make them fold when you don't. Some players refer to this as "changing gears." They have, through their previous play, established a "table image," and now is the time to take advantage of it. If you've been betting the ranch on a wing and prayer, now is the time to wait for pocket rockets. If you've been tossing everything but Big Slick and up into the muck, now is the time to take a flyer on unsuited connectors.
But Moneymaker apparently was not able to adjust to his new image and new life as a poker celebrity, as the reigning World Champion--and, as this story makes clear, he spent entirely too much time partying and basking in the glory, and not enough to taking care of business at home and on the felt tables.
In other words this is a cautionary tale as well as a great poker read. The little guy fells the giants, but falls victim to the corruption of the spoils himself. I feel somewhat sorry for Chris Moneymaker because in reading this book I know he still hasn't a clue--well, he has a clue, but he just hasn't developed the character yet to come to grips with the truth and deal with his sudden, largely fortuitous success. This book concentrates on the poker playing and only hints at what success has done to Moneymaker's personal life, the drinking, the living on the road, the career change, the failure of his marriage...
He's like the guy who won the lottery, not like the guy who reached the pinnacle of his profession after years of hard work. And it shows.
They say if the gods really want to destroy a man, they will give him his fondest wish. I think this is what happened to the man from Tennessee. Only time will tell if he can come back from the personal debacle and get his life together. I wish him well. His story did a lot for poker, and this is a good book in that he was honest enough to show himself as he really is. Now he needs to take a good, long study of the guy in the mirror.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
January 25, 2018
The tale of the amateur beating the pros that started it all...
September 12, 2018
Decent book.
January 15, 2019
Not a masterpiece but decent read if you are into poker.
August 25, 2020
Back story was quite interesting. Don't remember the rest.
September 26, 2024
Good if you’re into it. Showing the David vs Goliath story isn’t as simple as the media portray the story
March 13, 2010
This was an entertaining book to read,
it doesn't really tell you much about HOW to play poker,
but rather it's about the author's remarkable travel from internet poker to the world series.
One point I thought was interesting was that after he got back home,
whenever he'd play with friends, family & others, everyone at the table was gunning for him.
Tells you something about the envy others may feel when you are successful.
Also, it makes it really hard to win when everyone else is against you.
True in more areas of life than just poker.
it doesn't really tell you much about HOW to play poker,
but rather it's about the author's remarkable travel from internet poker to the world series.
One point I thought was interesting was that after he got back home,
whenever he'd play with friends, family & others, everyone at the table was gunning for him.
Tells you something about the envy others may feel when you are successful.
Also, it makes it really hard to win when everyone else is against you.
True in more areas of life than just poker.
Read
August 3, 2011this book is a bio of a brash, arrogant young poker player. the only kudos i can offer go to the writer, daniel paisner, who put moneymaker's story into book form...often including a bit of humor. best part of the book: middle portion about days 1-4 at the WSOP.
January 16, 2012
He got alot of people playing poker. They saw when he qualified on line for $40, then went on to win $2.5 million it showed anyone with a good game of poker could have a chance to win some big money.
Read
December 20, 2007Poker is my passion/vice. Good read about his experience leading up to winning Millions.
December 9, 2010
If you ever thought you might have a chance at the World Series of poker read this book. Although luck has lots to do with it too.
July 11, 2012
One of the most important poker events ever, but told so badly.
January 28, 2013
Really good true story of an accountant turn poker pro. Chris is a very lucky guy but also had mad skills to back it up. Of course it resonated with me because I do accounting and like poker :)
May 13, 2013
First person story of how he won the 2003 World Series of Poker at Binion's in Las Vegas.
July 22, 2014
Cool story! I liked his voice.
June 15, 2010
A real page turner.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews